The present invention is generally related to radiotelephones, and more particularly to a cellular telephone with a keypad controller.
Cellular telephones currently are operated with a special purpose handset having an integrated display, keypad, microphone and speaker, that is coupled via audio and data buses to a cellular telephone transceiver. Such special purpose handsets may not be miniaturized due to the integrated display, keypad, microphone and speaker, and their associated control circuitry. In order to avoid use of a cellular radio channel during dialing and minimize costs of cellular telephone calls, cellular telephone users are required to dial a telephone number and then press a "SEND" button (pre-origination dialing), in order to place a cellular telephone call. Pressing the "SEND" button causes the cellular telephone handset to generate a "SEND" signal and append it to the dialed digits transmitted to the cellular telephone transceiver. In contrast, conventional landline telephones place telephone calls automatically after a pause in dialing of several seconds. Such special purpose handsets also provide many different user features requiring complex software and additional circuitry. Thus, such special purpose handsets are both relatively large due to the integrated keypad, display, microphone and speaker, and relatively expensive due to the complex software and additional circuitry therein. Moreover, such special purpose handset does not operate like conventional landline telephones. For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for a cellular telephone with an inexpensive keypad controller which does not include a "SEND" button and integrated display.